This invention relates to a ski braking device for preventing runaway of a ski in the event that the ski boot is disengaged therefrom.
Many ski braking devices of the type described above have been previously proposed. Such ski braking devices are generally made up of a spring wire which is considered desirable because of low material costs. In the ski braking devices which use a spring wire, it is usually required that a relatively long spring wire be used and that the wire be bent into a complicated shape for making up, for example, a brake arm which is extensible below the ski plate, an axial portion which is rotatably supported on the ski plate and an actuating portion for generating and retaining an elastic energy when it is depressed by a ski boot. Accordingly, due to the complicated shape of the spring wire, special attention has to be paid to each of the bending portions. Also, relatively wide open slots or guide spaces are required in the mounting plate for supporting the spring wire or in the pedal member for depressing the spring wire in order to generate the elastic energy required when depresed by the ski boot. The slots or guide spaces in the mounting plate or pedal member will allow snow or mud which becomes attached to the sole of the ski boot to enter freeze therein, and as a result the desired operation of the ski braking device is disturbed.
Also, in the known ski braking device, the design in such that the brake arms thereof can absorb the severe shock which is applied thereto in the normal braking direction. However, when a skier falls down while skiing, there sometimes occurs the situation that a severe shock is applied to the brake arms in an unexpected direction, for example in the direction reverse to the normal braking direction. In such a case, if no special means is provided in the ski braking device for absorbing the shock in the unexpected direction, the brake arms will be deformed permanently or will be broken. Accordingly, it has been desired to provided such a special means for absorbing the shock which is applied in the unexpected direction.